laura99 wrote:That is a nice looking pot. I bought one for 19.99 at Dens Teas for my starter and I am regretting it seeing the very nice looking ones here for not much more. It works very well, but not much style

Well, your shipping was a lot less too. The Den's are tough hombres too. The delicate clay ones are quite fragile by comparison.

I usually box the Den's Shincha pot for family outings, etc. I woud nevr think of doing this with the more expensive and delicate Tokoname ones. I have no regrets, and I have a lot nicer ones.

Don't get me wrong, the really nice hand made or crafted Tokoname Kyusu-s are really better, it is just that there is always a use for the bomb proof ones from Den's.

laura99 wrote:That is a nice looking pot. I bought one for 19.99 at Dens Teas for my starter and I am regretting it seeing the very nice looking ones here for not much more. It works very well, but not much style

Well, your shipping was a lot less too. The Den's are tough hombres too. The delicate clay ones are quite fragile by comparison.

I usually box the Den's Shincha pot for family outings, etc. I woud nevr think of doing this with the more expensive and delicate Tokoname ones. I have no regrets, and I have a lot nicer ones.

Don't get me wrong, the really nice hand made or crafted Tokoname Kyusu-s are really better, it is just that there is always a use for the bomb proof ones from Den's.

Good point Chip - and I have plenty of time in my life to buy more pots right

thediminished5th wrote:In your opinion, would it make a good first kyusu? I think it looks cool without being over-the-top.

well..not sure about a first kyusu..guess it depends on how much japanese green tea exerience you have? the stainless steel mesh filters are probably easier to learn with in the fact that you dont have to be quite so careful with your pour. Specially with Fuka. On the other hand yes it is a nice pot without being over the top and at a nice pricepoint and maybe you want to learn that carefull pour right up front?all comes back to personal desire/preference eh?

So along with some other stuff I went and ordered some Gyo from yuuki..the Organic Asahina Gyokuro Yabukita. I wanted to put it up against the lowest priced Yamashita Gyo I got from Maiko just to compare. Not suuure it wa sa fair comparison or not the nutty tones were there.especially in the armoma but this one gave me a blast of grassiness along with it and over the top of the Nutty tones. It was pretty enjoyable but just very different from the Maiko Yamashita which was most nutty and less grassy. I would say the Maiko was much more "refined" I guess.

This week I opened the third of the four organic shinchas I ordered from Yuuki-cha, and it was lovely.

I was a bit nervous about ordering direct from Japan because I didn't know if I could identify the flavor profile I prefer (lighter umami, so the sweet and vegetal flavors shine more clearly) from the descriptions of the teas. So I wrote to them and Dan suggested a group of teas he thought I'd prefer, notified me when they were available for order, and made it as easy as 1-2-3.

So far, I've been enjoying Tenryu Misakubo, Honoyama, and now the Okuyutaka; I'm looking forward to the Sayamakaori next, and will post a link in this topic when I do a comparison of the four teas to better define their differences.

I've purchased 600 grams of shincha so far this year from Yuuki-cha and have been happy with all that I've tried so far. The light-steamed teas are readily available from this vendor this year. Very different from the deep-steamed variety but a great addition to their line-up. Unlike fukamashi these have a very clear liquid. They're also much less green in color and seem to be very easy to brew with good results.